


thumbs tucked into fists

by thulkwarrior



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, But it has a happy ending i promise, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, because screw endgame am i right, it's like post ragnarok but everything else isn't canon compliant, she's angsty, the broken bone thing is only mild but just in case, they're on new asgard, tw anxiety attack, tw broken bones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 07:05:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18734059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thulkwarrior/pseuds/thulkwarrior
Summary: after a couple stray hulk outs and the occasional plate thrown at his head, thor had fine tuned his ability to read bruce almost perfectly. he could see the way his lip quivered just slightly when he was sad, the tiny squint of his eyes when he was happy and the way he tucked his thumbs into his fist and squeezed when he was scared.which is why thor went into red alert when a squadron of men landed on new asgard, and he noticed bruce’s thumbs slip into his fist.





	thumbs tucked into fists

**Author's Note:**

> anonymous asked:  
> Do you think Thor would ever beat up General Ross? If not how would he react? If you could write a fic about this it would literally make my day!! 💕

for a man who turns big and green when he’s angry, bruce banner is not very good at expressing his emotions. ironic as it is.

sure he can yell and scream just as much as the next person; but only he with an observant eye can pick up on the microscoping shows of fear, hurt, or even happiness that bruce expresses on a day to day basis. for thor; the asgardian, this took a bit of getting used to. 

small tells wasn’t exactly the asgardian way, it was a ‘go big or go home’ kind of realm. it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll never meet a timid asgardian in your life. far from it. so it took thor a while to gain the ‘bruce banner eye’. 

but after a couple stray hulk outs and the occasional plate thrown at his head, thor had fine tuned his ability to read bruce almost perfectly. he could see the way his lip quivered just slightly when he was sad, the tiny squint of his eyes when he was happy and the way he tucked his thumbs into his fist and squeezed when he was scared.

which is why thor went into red alert when a squadron of men landed on new asgard, and he noticed bruce’s thumbs slip into his fist. 

 

“i didn’t authorise any aircraft to land within our borders.” thor stated indifferently as three men in military uniform and holding guns stepped from a helicopter and approached him, bruce, brunnhilde and heimdall. 

the man at the forefront held out a badge, general thaddeus ross, US air force, thor took notice of the pop of bruce’s joints as he squeezed his thumbs harder.  
“it’s an inspection, we are under no obligation to forewarn you about inspections.” the man, ross, replied. his eyes had begun to roam, eyeing up his council, thor noted the way they landed and lingered on bruce. 

“inspection?” brunnhilde spoke up, and his beady eyes shot to her.

“yes, ma’am. an inspection. to make sure your people are… safe. that they’re not a threat.” 

brunnhilde scoffed, “a threat? we’ve been here six months with no incidents, why would you suddenly be concerned that there’s a threat?”

thor raised a hand to brunnhilde but intercepted before the man could speak again, “i’m sorry sir, but i will not have my people gawked at like animals and inspected like criminals.”

the general seemed taken aback for a moment, before he seemed to regain himself and took a step forward, “need i remind you, mr odinson, that you are guests on this planet, and in this country. we were kind enough to let you in, we can just as easily throw you out.”

thor felt the anger rise and the electricity crackle under his skin, but heimdall’s hand on his shoulder kept him grounded. he clenched his jaw and ground his teeth but nodded slowly, before gesturing with his arm, “of course. follow me.”

the man smirked, “lead the way.” 

thor turned and finally snuck a glance at bruce. as expected his face was neutral, save for a slight tremor to his lip, and a look at his hands revealed white knuckles. thor’s stomach turned at the sight. he wanted to ask if he was okay, but bruce didn’t look at him once, his eyes stayed glued on the general, who seemed to be staring back. 

figuring he could ask bruce about it when they were alone, he began to lead the men to the council hall. despite thor’s fast pace, bruce kept himself glued to thor’s side, not wanting to fall even a little behind. taking pity on the way he tumbled every now and then to keep up, thor decided to reach down to hold one of his hands. bruce clutched on tightly and immediately, and his palm was covered in a cold sweat. the weight in thor’s stomach grew heavier. 

when they arrived at the small council hall and thor went to sit down, he loosened his grip so as to allow bruce to sit in the seat next to him, but bruce’s hand squeezed his tighter. that’s when he finally looked at thor, pleading with his eyes. thor’s mind begun to cloud with worry, but all he could do was grip his hand again. 

“so, let’s talk business.” the general had seated himself in one of the chairs opposite thor’s council while the other men stood behind him, guns in their hands, ready. thor nodded. 

“we’re gonna need to stay about a week, to get a real feel of your people and how they have adapted to life here. we will not interfere, just observe.” he said, thor hummed. 

“a week? pardon me general, but where are you planning on housing for a week?”

“i beg your pardon?”

“well, you gave us the smallest amount of land you could. we have no spare housing, no spare rooms. not even a barn you could stay in.” thor explained calmly. 

the general glared at thor slightly, before turning and whispering to the men behind him. they exchanged hushed conversation before turning back to thor, “we can set up camp on the launchpad, by the chopper.”

“as you wish.” thor replied. 

“if i may continue…” the general continued through gritted teeth, “we also want to get a feel of authority here. how you run things. i know you’re used to a monarchy, but under our government we need to know how you command and run your people. as part of this, we want to privately speak to each member of your council.” his eyes fell on bruce, “each one.” 

thor could now pick up the tremor in bruce’s grip. he flicked between bruce and the general’s faces, they were looking intently at each other, but the unmistakable quiver of his lip told thor that bruce’s was a look of fear. 

“of course” he agreed, reluctantly. 

a smile broke out under the general’s thick moustache, “excellent! we’ll settle ourselves in and then begin with the interviews right away! starting with… mr banner, i think!” 

thor swore he felt bruce’s blood run cold. 

the men walked out, leaving only the council in the room. 

“this is ridiculous.” brunnhilde muttered, angrily throwing her hands in the air. “he can’t just fly in here with his big guns and mustache and analyse us! we’re not an experiment! you can’t let him do this to us! thor are you listening?!”

but thor wasn’t listening, he was too busy looking at bruce. he realised that the tremor wasn’t just in his hand, but his whole body was convulsing. and his eyes were trained on the door the men had just walked out of, unmoving. 

“bruce?” 

a shot of pain in his hand caused thor to look down and their still joined hands, only his fingers had gone completely purple, and pain climbed up his wrist as bruce continued to squeeze. 

“bruce? honey you’re hurting me.” thor spoke more urgently this time, and he brought a hand down to try and pry bruce’s fingers away. brunnhilde and heimdall now seemed to notice something was wrong.

“bruce?” brunnhilde tried, as thor continued to try and pull bruce’s fingers away. he didn’t respond again, just kept looking at the door, shaking and squeezing. 

“bruce please… stop”

it was the loud snap that brought bruce back to reality.

thor yelped loudly and cupped his hand which bruce finally dropped, looking at bruce in shock. bruce’s face seemed to reflect his, he looked in disbelief at thor’s hand, and then back down at his own. his fist was green. 

“thor, i’m… i’m so- i’m sorry…”

heimdall rushed toward thor and looked at his hand, “it’s broken, it’ll heal in a couple of days but i should set it. come to the med building.” 

he left no room for argument as he dragged thor by his other arm, thor made a noise of protest and looked to bruce but could only give him a look of sympathy before being pulled out of the room. 

as soon as thor was out the room bruce’s knees gave out and he fell into one of the chairs. he couldn’t bring himself to look at brunnhilde, so he kept his head dropped looking at the floor. 

“what the hell was that, bruce?” she said, after a moment of silence. 

“i-” he began, trying to come out with some sort of explanation, but all that came out was a whisper as his throat closed up and his eyes flooded with tears. the shaking was back, and his thumbs tucked back into his fists. 

“it’s that man isn’t it.” she stated, more than asked, “let me take you to your house-”

“no!” bruce jumped back as brunnhilde reached to help him up, “no… just- just make sure thor is okay. please. i’ll walk back myself.”

brunnhilde pressed her lips together, “i don’t think you’re in any state to be on your own bruce…”

“please, i’ve already hurt one person. just...go. i’ll be fine.” he wiped the tears streaming down his cheeks and cleared his throat, “i’ll be fine.” 

brunnhilde looked reluctant, but eventually placed a hand on bruce’s shoulder before nodding and leaving towards the med building. 

finally on his own, bruce leaned forward and placed his head on the table. he took in deep breaths as he felt as if his lungs were being crushed until his head swam and his vision started to blot green. images of thor leaping away from him in pain flashed through his mind as he panted, then of heimdall taking him away from him, and then val’s shocked face. and then ross. ross. ross…

“hello, bruce.”

 

“brunn?” thor asked as he saw the maiden approach the med building, “where’s bruce?”

“he’s still at the council hall.” she replied, sitting down in the seat opposite thor who now sported a splint on his hand. “he wanted me to come make sure you’re okay.”

“what? and you just left him there?!” thor demanded. 

brunnhilde raised her hands and nodded to thor’s bandaged hand, “i didn’t feel i was in a particularly good place to say no.” she retorted defensively. 

thor shrank slightly and retracted back in his seat, cupping his hand to his chest, “you’re right, i’m sorry.”

they fell into a silence, neither sure what to say. they had never seen bruce in such a state. not after a hulk out, not even before a hulk out. he had gone completely comatose, save for snapping thor’s hand. feeling the throb in his fingers thor knew that bruce was afraid of that man, and he needed to know why. 

“i need to speak to that general.” thor said, and brunnhilde nodded. 

 

bruce couldn’t move. he tried, he really did. he tried to run, willed his legs to move and get him out. he begged his hands to cover his head and close his eyes, and hope that when he opened them he wouldn’t be there anymore. he would wake up to the sunrise, thor wrapped around him, protecting him.

but he was frozen. and he was there. and it was real. 

“quite the life you’ve built for yourself here.” 

bruce didn’t think he’d ever have to hear that voice again. it was stupid of him. stupid to think he could ever be allowed to be happy, to live a normal life with his husband and his friends. 

“i mean, i always figured you’d end up a recluse somewhere, tony stark’s protection couldn’t last forever. and it only took him… a few years to blast you into space and leave you there to rot?”

bruce wanted to protest. to get up and tell him that tony is his friend, that he cares about him. that he is capable of love and being loved, but ross’ words banged around in his head, invading his thoughts and poisoning his mind. he held his breath as ross began to move, taking slow steps towards him. 

“marrying the king of asgard though! now there’s something i couldn’t have expected!” 

he began to circle around bruce’s chair until he was stood behind him. bruce could have run, the door was right in front of him, and ross was behind him. but he couldn’t, and ross knew this too. 

“i hope you enjoy it while it lasts, wasn’t that your husband i just saw running out with a broken hand?”

the sudden feeling of hands dropping onto his shoulders made bruce’s blood run cold and his breath get caught in his throat. 

“what will it be the next time, bruce? his arm? his leg?” hot breath hit bruce’s skin, “his neck?”

images of him harming - killing - thor flashed through his mind and he quickly shook his head. 

“no?” ross was now leaning down so he was speaking into his ear, “but you’ve already hurt him once. what’s to stop you doing it again? “

“i-” bruce’s voice was thick and broken as he tried to talk through the lump in his throat, “i love him.”

ross scoffed, “love? you’re incapable of love! all you know is to destroy. and that’s all you’re good for!”

bruce shook his head again as tears streamed down his face. ross’ hands gripped his shoulders tighter and bruce felt the panic rise. his limbs began to tingle and his vision started to blot green. 

“you’ve had your fun here, but i’m going to take you away, bruce. my job is to determine the safety of this area, and i deem you dangerous. you’re coming with me!”

bruce’s chest heaved as the words dug into him harder than the fingers in his shoulders, “no!”

his voice was deep and afraid, now. hulk wanted to come out, to protect bruce. and bruce didn’t know if he could, or wanted to stop him. he sobbed as he saw green. 

“that’s it, bruce! turn green, make my day!”

 

“what do you mean he’s not here?”

thor was stood on the launchpad with the group of men, but the general was nowhere to be seen. 

“he went back to the council hall, said he needed to speak to someone.” one of the men replied. 

thor’s look of confusion turned to one of worry, “oh no,” 

 

he began to run towards the hall, his mind racing with thoughts of bruce. of how afraid he looked, of the way he gripped thor’s hand like it was the only thing keeping him safe. god, he shouldn’t have left him. 

he halted to a stop when a roar pierced the air, coming from the council hall.

“bruce…” thor whispered, he began running again, as fast as he could. 

“bruce!” he shouted as he approached, the building was in his sight. the first thing he noticed was the hole where the door had previously been, the second thing he noticed was the hulk lying, unmoving on the floor. 

“hulk!” he screamed, dropping to his knees beside the hulk’s body. it was then he noticed the slow rise and fall of his chest. he was alive. 

thor brought a hand up to his face and stroked his cheek, “oh, what did he do to you?”

“i merely tranquilised him.”

thor’s head shot up at the sound of the generals voice, and anger immediately erupted into his veins. he leaned down to place a kiss on hulk’s forehead before standing and turning to the general. 

“if you value you your life, you’d better have a damn good explanation for this.” 

ross narrowed his eyes and threw the tranquiliser gun he was holding to the ground, “is that a threat, mr odinson?”

“you shot my husband, yes it’s a threat” thor growled, “speak quickly.”

ross glared at thor, “that creature was going to kill me! i was just asking mr banner some questions, when he hulked out and tried to attack me!”

a crowd had formed around the scene, but thor paid no attention to anyone. his eyes stayed burning into ross, the flickering of blue in his pupils revealing his barely contained fury which threatened to seep out of him at any moment.

“it is your responsibility as the leader of asgard to make sure you do not pose a threat to our country, and i deem that this creature” he pointed a finger to hulk, “is dangerous! and he’s coming with us.”  
ross suddenly pulled an intercom to his mouth, “the beast is down, let's pick him up and go.”

thor had begun to spark, and dark clouds gathered above them. 

“you’re not touching him.” 

ross visibly backup up as thor’s eyes began to glow, and electricity bounced from his skin. he was like a bomb that was seconds away from detonating. brunnhilde had pushed her way through the crowd of people and gasped when she saw hulk lying unconscious on the ground with thor kneeling next to him. she ran forward to hulk’s side and stood next to thor, staring ross down. 

ross licked his lips and took another step back, “if you hurt me, you and all your people will be exiled from this planet. you’ll have nowhere to go! are you really willing to put that creature before your people?!”

thor didn’t need to answer, though. 

it started with heimdall. without a word, he joined brunnhilde, putting himself between hulk and ross. he didn’t say anything, but everyone knew what he meant, ross would have to go through him to get to hulk. 

that was all it took, then. the asgardians began to encircle themselves around hulk, until they had created a barrier around him. each one was staring at ross, daring him to make a move. 

thor smiled, finally breaking his eye contact with ross to look at his people. 

“we won’t hurt you, general.” he looked back, “but if you come here and threaten my husband again, you will have 500 asgardians to answer to.” 

ross was red in the face, but his hands shook with fear as he looked at the crowd of people glaring daggers in his direction. 

“abort, let’s leave.” he said into the intercom. 

“you’ll regret this.” he said to thor, before turning to leave back towards the launchpad. 

 

thor was at bruce’s bedside the second he heard the sound of him calling out. 

“hey, my love. i’m here, it’s okay.”

bruce looked disorientated, his eyes frantically shooting around the room, confusion written on his face. but when his eyes landed on thor, they filled with tears. 

“thor…”

thor leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together, “shh, it’s okay. he’s gone. he’s gone.”

“he- he tried…” bruce tried to speak, but sobbing wracked his body so harshly he couldn’t get the words out. 

thor brought his uninjured hand up to stroke bruce’s hair as he cried, placing gentle kisses on his face and hair and whispering quiet words of comfort. 

they stayed like that for a while, until bruce’s crying dwindled down into whimpers and his whole body shook.  
after a couple deep breathes, bruce tried to speak again.

“i thought he was going to take me again, away from you. and away from here… i didn’t want to…” 

thor shook his head and used a finger to wipe and bruce’s cheeks, “no one will ever take you away from me. no one. i wouldn’t let them. asgard wouldn’t let them. okay? you don’t have to tell me about that man, or how you know him. all i care about is you, safe, and here with me.”

bruce nodded, and untucked his thumb from his fist to bring it up to thor’s cheek, “i love you, so so much.”

thor placed his bandaged hand over bruce’s and smiled, “words can’t even begin to describe how much i love you.”

he leaned forward and placed a kiss on bruce’s lips. it was wet and sloppy but neither cared, they were just happy to hold each other. 

“i’m sorry about your hand.” bruce whispered as they pulled apart. 

thor laughed and kissed him again, “it’s okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> hey hey it's me actually posting on here and not just on tumblr, because this one is looooooooong. 
> 
> if you aren't familiar with my tumblr im @thulkwarrior and i mostly do short prompts for people who send in requests for thorbruce and thorhulk :) gimme a follow if ur into thorbruce/hulk


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